Hook and loop fastening structures are used in various applications to secure objects that are adjacent to one another. For example, hook fastening strips, such as those disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/353,538, which was filed on Jan. 14, 2009 and names Yasutoshi Nozawa and Thanh P. Nguyen as inventors, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/133,572, which was filed on Jun. 5, 2008 and names Wolfgang E. Coronel, Keith D. Kratz, and Cary Maddox as inventors, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,493,676, which issued on Feb. 24, 2009 and names Ryuichi Muraskai and Tsuyoshi Minato as inventors, all three of which are incorporated herein by reference, may be molded onto a surface of a foam bun of an automobile seat, and loop material may be provided on an inner surface of an automobile seat covering to engage the hook fastening strips and secure the seat covering to the foam bun. Hook fastening strips may be utilized on straight portions of the foam bun, such as longitudinally down the center of the bun, or may be disposed on curved portions of the foam bun.
A mold is typically used to form the foam bun of a particular automobile seat. The mold includes trenches for receiving the hook fastening strips before the foam is injected to form the foam bun. Because the molds include trenches of different lengths and different shapes/radii of curvature, hook fastening strips having different lengths are often required to accommodate the various trench lengths and curvatures. In a typical operation, operators position the hook fastening strips into the trenches of the molds as part of an assembly line.
In a conventional facility, a parts rack stores various lengths of pre-cut hook fastening strips. A mold assembly line carrying the molds to be assembled with the hook fastening strips is positioned separate from the parts rack. At least one operator is required to determine which length fastening strips are required to fit the trenches of the mold used to form the foam bun of the particular automobile seat being manufactured. The operator then retrieves from the parts rack the hook fastening strips having the required lengths, and then moves back to the assembly line to assemble the appropriate length hook fastening strips into the mold that is coming down the line. In this way, the operator moves back and forth between the assembly line and the parts rack to retrieve and position within the trenches of the mold hook fastening strips of suitable length.